Vitamin D Deficiency

England to Hand Out Free Vitamin D

82% of COVID Patients Are Vitamin D Deficient

COVID-19 and vitamin D appears to have a lot to do with your risk of this infection. According to a Spanish study published online October 27, 2020, in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 82.2% of COVID-19 patients tested were found to be deficient in vitamin D.

One study found the risk of developing a severe case of, and dying from, COVID-19 virtually disappears once the vitamin D level gets above a certain level.

Vitamin D Lowers Your Risk of a Positive COVID-19 Test

Vitamin D has also been linked to a lower risk of testing positive for COVID-19. The largest observational study to date, looked at data for 191,779 American patients who were tested for SARS-CoV-2 between March and June 2020 and had had their vitamin D tested sometime in the preceding 12 months.

“Evidence Regarding Vitamin D and Risk of COVID-19 and Its Severity,” co-written with William Grant, Ph.D., and Dr. Carol Wagner, both of whom are part of the GrassrootsHealth expert vitamin D panel, was also published in the peer-reviewed journal Nutrients.

Dark skin color, increased age, pre-existing chronic conditions and vitamin D deficiency are all features of severe COVID disease, and of these, vitamin D deficiency is the only factor that is readily and easily modifiable.

You may be able to reverse chronic disease, but that typically takes time. Optimizing your vitamin D, on the other hand, can be achieved in just a few weeks, thereby significantly lowering your risk of severe COVID-19.

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Vitamin D is an important component of COVID-19 prevention and treatment for the fact that it:

• Boosts your overall immune function by modulating your innate and adaptive immune responses

• Reduces respiratory distress

• Improves overall lung function

• Helps produce surfactants in your lungs that aid in fluid clearance

• Lowers your risk of comorbidities associated with poor COVID-19 prognosis, including obesity, Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease

SARS-CoV-2 emerges in the winter in the northern hemisphere, and as we move into summer, positive tests, hospitalizations and death rates fall. 

People with darker skin have higher COVID-19 case and death rates than Caucasians. Vitamin D is produced in your skin in response to sun exposure, but the darker your skin, the more sun exposure you need in order to maintain an optimal vitamin D level. As a result, vitamin D deficiency tends to be far higher among Blacks and dark-skinned Hispanics.

One of the lethal hallmarks of COVID-19 is the cytokine storm that can develop in severe cases, which manifests as hyperinflammation and tissue damage. Vitamin D is known to regulate inflammatory cytokine production, thereby lowering this risk. Lastly, vitamin D is an important regulator of your immune system, and dysregulation of the immune system is a hallmark of severe COVID-19.

England to Hand Out Free Vitamin D Supplements

According to a November 28, 2020, BBC News report, British health officials are now recommending people take supplemental vitamin D this winter to reduce their risk of respiratory infections, including COVID-19.

Similar recommendations have been issued to the government health officials in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland not yet in the USA.

Senior care homes in the U.K. will receive enough vitamin D supplements to cover all residents, and people on the “clinically extremely vulnerable” list will have the option to get four months’ worth of free vitamin D supplements delivered to their homes starting in January 2021.

The recommended dose is in the ideal range of 6,000 to 8,000 units per day.

Chief nutritionist at Public Health England, Dr. Alison Tedstone, told the BBC:

"We advise that everyone, particularly the elderly, those who don't get outside and those with dark skin, take a vitamin D supplement every day. This year, the advice is more important than ever with more people spending more time inside, which is why the government will be helping the clinically extremely vulnerable to get vitamin D.

if you cannot get sufficient amounts of sun exposure to maintain a vitamin D blood level of 40 ng/mL (100 nmol/L) to 60 ng/mL (150 nmol/L), a vitamin D3 supplement is highly recommended. The most important factor here is your blood level, not the dose, so before you start, get tested so you know your baseline. This will help you determine your ideal dose, as it can vary from person to person.

Importance of Magnesium, K2 and Zinc

Optimizing your vitamin D can go a long way toward minimizing your chances of contracting a respiratory infection, be it the common cold, seasonal influenza or COVID-19.

You can minimize your vitamin D requirement by making sure you’re also getting enough magnesium. Magnesium is required for the conversion of vitamin D into its active form,and research has confirmed higher magnesium intake helps reduce your risk of vitamin D deficiency by activating more of it.

A scientific review published in 2018 concluded that up to half of all Americans taking vitamin D supplements may not get significant benefit as the vitamin D simply gets stored in its inactive form, and the reason for this is because their magnesium levels are too low.

Increasing your magnesium and vitamin K2 intake will optimize your vitamin D absorption and utilization.

Mounting evidence also demonstrates that if you do end up contracting COVID-19, having adequate vitamin D will lower the odds of you requiring hospitalization and intensive care. If you have lost your sense of taste and smell, chances are you are also deficient in zinc. And for zinc to work most effectively, you need to take quercetin.

As it reduces the severity of the infection.  vitamin D also lowers your risk of dying from COVID-19.

A growing body of evidence shows that vitamin D plays a crucial role in disease prevention and maintaining optimal health. There are about 30,000 genes in your body, and vitamin D affects nearly 3,000 of them, as well as vitamin D receptors located throughout your body.

Vitamin D Helps Protect Against Cancer and Other Diseases

According to one large-scale study, having optimal vitamin D levels can slash your risk of cancer and can help prevent at least 16 different types of cancer, including pancreatic, lung, ovarian, prostate and skin cancers.

Vitamin D from sun exposure also radically decreases your risk of autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS) and Type 1 diabetes. Sun exposure also helps prevent osteoporosis, which is a significant concern for women.

Recent research suggests high doses (4 grams) of the omega-3 fats EPA and DHA may help improve healing after a heart attack. Other benefits of omega-3 fats include prevention of lupus and Parkinson’s disease, decreased anxiety, healthier and stronger bones, as well as fighting fats in the body.

You can’t tell by looking in a mirror if you are deficient in vitamin D, magnesium or omega-3s. The only real way to know if you are deficient in these nutrients is to get tested.

If you are unable or unwilling to get a vitamin D test, they have found that the average dose to achieve a healthy vitamin D level of 40 ng/ml is about 8,000 units per day. If you are underweight you will want to reduce this dose to 6-7,000 units per day as heavier people tend to need more vitamin D.

visit www.stopcovidcold.com please do so now so you can take your free COVID risk test and grab a free PDF copy of the vitamin D report.